TikTok for brands is exciting - not least as it offers the prospect of going ‘viral’ in a way long-vanished on Facebook and other platforms.
TikTok for brands is exciting - not least as it offers the prospect of going ‘viral’ in a way long-vanished on Facebook and other platforms.
But, as TikTok gets ever-bigger, does the promise of brand-viral TikToks still hold up?
We dived into the data from a sizeable basket of TikTok accounts, focussed solely on organic (rather than paid) impact on content performance. We quantified this virality as how many times greater a video performed than the average for that account.
We found:
There has been no meaningful shift in the rate at which posts do x2 better than the average for an account
However, above x5 performance for views vs the brand average TikTok performance has seen a considerable decrease
What does it mean?
To ‘blow up’ (x10 performance) on TikTok for a brand is nearly half as likely as it was a year ago - reducing some of the potential benefit for brands.
This could be corrected for by increasing post frequency, or by evolving tactics to optimise for virality. The single biggest predictor of virality is the share rate, giving direction as to the behaviours a video needs to trigger.
The other route is to reset expectations, and measurement. Adjust KPIs to reflect the decrease in virality, and the steady (likely longer-term) drift towards brands seeing reduced organic distribution. It’s a path well-trodden for social platforms as they mature, forcing monetisation through ads to brands who see it as a core platform, hooked on the organic reach.
In short - level up your tactics to continue enjoying the TikTok viral vibes.
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